Intelligence Reports

December 15, 2010 | By Ken Dilanian and David S. Cloud, Los Angeles Times

Two new assessments by the U.S. intelligence community present a gloomy picture of the Afghanistan war, contradicting a more upbeat view expressed by military officials as the White House prepares to release a progress report on the 9-year-old conflict. The classified intelligence reports contend that large swaths of Afghanistan are still at risk of falling to the Taliban, according to officials who were briefed on the National Intelligence Estimates on Afghanistan and Pakistan, which represent the collective view of more than a dozen intelligence agencies.

WASHINGTON - The deadly 2012 assault on the U.S. diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya, was caused by the failure of the State Department to adequately protect the facility and poor intelligence-gathering by the CIA and other agencies, according to a harsh assessment by the Senate Intelligence Committee. The panel's findings, contained in a declassified 78-page report released Wednesday, criticize the State Department for failing to increase security at the isolated, undermanned compound.

Contrary to President Reagan's public statements at the time, U.S. intelligence officials quickly determined in 1983 that the Soviet Union had shot down a Korean Air Lines 747 without realizing that it was a civilian airliner, according to documents made public Tuesday. On Sept.

WASHINGTON - Making its case for missile strikes against Syria, the White House released an intelligence report concluding that a special chemical weapons unit used nerve gas to kill more than 1,400 people, including at least 426 children, far more than most previous estimates. President Obama acknowledged that Americans, including himself, were war weary and suspicious of engaging in a new military action, especially in the Middle East. Although he insisted he has not decided to take military action, he said Friday that he is considering a "limited, narrow" attack on Syrian President Bashar Assad's government to deter further use of chemical weapons.

Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Arens, responding to growing criticism of his nation's weapons exports, said Saturday that Israel will continue to sell arms to any country it chooses, including China, because it needs the funds to keep its defense industry humming. Arens denied that Israel has ever sold U.S.-developed arms without Washington's permission.

Pakistan recently completed a "workable" nuclear bomb, U.S. intelligence reports indicate, an achievement that leaves the United States with a serious dilemma over future aid to the Islamic nation, Administration officials said. A U.S. military analyst said the reports lead to the belief that Pakistani scientists have positioned "two halves" of the core of a would-be nuclear bomb in a test that produced radiation levels indicating it could be detonated.

SAN DIEGO -- Although declining to discuss specific protection measures, Navy officials said Monday that the public can "be assured" local military bases are secure in the wake of the Boston Marathon bombings. "Access to installations is limited to those with proper identification cards and credentials," according to a statement issued by San Diego-based Navy Region Southwest, "and our security personnel are highly trained and extremely competent. " Security officials "consistently monitor intelligence reports and potential threats, and are prepared to increase the security condition in the region if and when necessary," it said.

June 5, 2003 | W. Patrick Lang And Larry C. Johnson, W. Patrick Lang is former head of Middle Eastern affairs for the Defense Intelligence Agency. Larry C. Johnson is a former senior analyst with the CIA.

Before the war, intelligence reports warned that Saddam Hussein was hiding a trove of chemical and biological weapons, and that if we invaded, the brutal dictator would use them on us instantly. In fact, it was the alleged presence of these terrifying chemical and biological agents that was the casus belli for bringing down Hussein's regime.

Two reporters at one of Denmark's largest newspapers could face jail time for publishing classified intelligence reports about Iraq's weapons program, a prosecutor said Thursday. Michael Bjerre and Jesper Larsen of the Berlingske Tidende newspaper were charged Wednesday with publishing confidential government documents, state prosecutor Karsten Hjorth said. If convicted, they could be fined or sentenced to as much as two years in prison. No trial date was set.

Stung but not defeated by a savage military counterattack, Maoist guerrillas here in the Peruvian Andes appear to be regrouping for an assault against the coming presidential elections. Citing interrogation and field intelligence reports, well-informed Peruvian sources here and in the capital of Lima say the rebels of Sendero Luminoso (Shining Path) plan stepped-up attacks beginning early next month and extending through the April 14 elections and a likely runoff five or six weeks later.

The State Department said Sunday that it was extending the closure of 19 embassies and consulates in the Muslim world through next Saturday, but not solely because of heightened concerns about terrorist attacks in the region. Jen Psaki, a department spokeswoman, said the posts would be closed through the end of the week because many of them were going to be closed anyway for much of the period because of the Eid holiday, which comes at the end of the Ramadan holy month. She said in a statement that the move was also ordered because the department wanted to apply "an abundance of caution" in the aftermath of intelligence reports indicating the possibility of an attack from an Al Qaeda related terrorist organization.

FT. MEADE, Md. - Army Pfc. Bradley Manning never meant to harm national security, but he believed Americans deserved to know how the Pentagon was waging war in Iraq and Afghanistan, his lawyers told a military judge Monday. As the defense opened in the former intelligence analyst's court-martial, Manning's lawyers also filed four motions asking for a directed verdict of not guilty, contending that the government had not proved that he had committed espionage or other offenses. The judge, Army Col. Denise Lind, said she would review the briefs after the prosecution responded by Thursday.

WASHINGTON - Recent Israeli strikes inside Syria may have exposed weaknesses in the regime's air defenses and could embolden the U.S. and its allies to take more steps to aid rebels fighting the regime there, said lawmakers on Sunday. “The Russian-supplied air defense systems are not as good as said,” Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.) said on NBC's "Meet the Press. " Leahy, who heads the appropriations subcommittee on foreign operations, said the Israeli defense forces were using American-made F-16 Fighting Falcon jets to launch the missiles against Syrian targets.

WASHINGTON - When a Russian intelligence service told the CIA that Tamerlan Tsarnaev had become an Islamic radical looking to join underground groups, the agency put his name in the government's catch-all database for terrorism suspects. The Terrorist Identities Datamart Environment list, known as TIDE, was the government's attempt after the Sept. 11 attacks to consolidate a hodgepodge of watch lists, and ensure that every law enforcement agency would be alerted when it came into contact with a possible terrorist.

SAN DIEGO -- Although declining to discuss specific protection measures, Navy officials said Monday that the public can "be assured" local military bases are secure in the wake of the Boston Marathon bombings. "Access to installations is limited to those with proper identification cards and credentials," according to a statement issued by San Diego-based Navy Region Southwest, "and our security personnel are highly trained and extremely competent. " Security officials "consistently monitor intelligence reports and potential threats, and are prepared to increase the security condition in the region if and when necessary," it said.

WASHINGTON - Majorities of people in most countries will achieve middle-class economic status by 2030, but the effects of climate change, an aging global population and anti-government movements in authoritarian nations such as China could cause upheaval in economic and political systems. The predictions come from a forward-looking study by the National Intelligence Council, which every four years analyzes key trends and projects their implications 20 years into the future. The United States is likely to remain "first among equals" among world powers because of the legacy of its leadership role and military power, according to the report.

The State Department said Sunday that it was extending the closure of 19 embassies and consulates in the Muslim world through next Saturday, but not solely because of heightened concerns about terrorist attacks in the region. Jen Psaki, a department spokeswoman, said the posts would be closed through the end of the week because many of them were going to be closed anyway for much of the period because of the Eid holiday, which comes at the end of the Ramadan holy month. She said in a statement that the move was also ordered because the department wanted to apply "an abundance of caution" in the aftermath of intelligence reports indicating the possibility of an attack from an Al Qaeda related terrorist organization.

November 16, 2012 | By Ken Dilanian, This post has been corrected, as indicated below.

WASHINGTON - Appearing before two congressional committees in closed-door sessions, former CIA Director David Petraeus did little to dispel the partisan divide over whether Obama administration officials misled the public in the days after heavily armed militants killed four Americans in Benghazi,Libya, lawmakers said Friday. Petraeus told the House and Senate intelligence committees that he believed almost immediately that the Sept. 11 assault was an organized terrorist attack, according to lawmakers and staff sources.

A federal domestic security effort to help state and local law enforcement catch terrorists by setting up more than 70 information-sharing centers around the country has threatened civil liberties while doing little to combat terrorism, a two-year examination by a Senate subcommittee found. The so-called fusion centers were created in 2003 after the Sept. 11 commission concluded that federal, state and local law enforcement agencies needed to collaborate more in counter-terrorism efforts.